Stories by Kevin Dougherty and Samantha Wolf

Parking enforcement technology hadn’t evolved much since the invention of the boot, a driver’s nemesis since the 1940s. The ubiquitous metal device is attached to the wheel of a car whose owner often is guilty of having failed to pay multiple parking tickets. Weighing nearly 50 pounds, the boot requires a police officer or parking official to haul the object around, kneel down (sometimes in or near traffic) and attach it. A startup company developed an alternative to the boot. Here’s how it attracted attention.